January 31, 2011

dance in the rain.

The day after a good rain is my favorite. The smell left behind, the crisp clean air, the way you can still feel the moisture...I just love it! This evening I convinced the boys to take a walk in the hills around our house to practice with my camera. Today was a beautiful day-after-rain-day, and I wanted to be outside and feel it in my bones. Pax had a great time. He was definitely too distracted to be interested in taking any pictures! So today I tried to capture the little things instead, the moments, rather than a smile into the camera. I love my boys <3

Dad showing him how to brush his hands off

after he fell.

We LOVE those big, gross, open mouth kisses!

I think this one is my favorite...

Dad understands that Pax will need pictures of him and Mama too,

so he stepped behind the camera for a few minutes too...

OK, I will admit it - before I use any picture of myself, I usually do a

I snapped a few pictures of the freshly watered beauty along the trail too...

I am thankful today for California in the winter...

I wish I could record the sound of the frogs in this creek. It

sounds like there must be hundreds of them, but we look

and look and can never actually see any.

Prior to our spontaneous trail walk, today was a rough day. No one warned me those dreaded "terrible twos" would start WAY before two. I think Pax has the curse of his parents - fierce independence. He does not want help with anything. He gets very angry when any assistance is offered. We don't watch alot of tv in our house, and the only show Pax likes is Yo Gabba Gabba. He asks to watch it often, and we usually allow one or two a day. Today he saw the tv remote, and when I said no, he promptly screamed at the top of his lungs about five times in a row and began throwing a fit. Tonight I told Mike I know the reason our evenings are so much more pleasant than our mornings and afternoons. In the morning, I am ready for another day, I've got my firm discipline face on, and Pax is not getting away with anything. This means constant fits, screaming, yelling, throwing, etc. As the day progressing, poor Mama is so tired of saying no, she ignores the things she'd been saying no to earlier in the day, such as grabbing the remote, stealing a cell phone, eating dog food. She pretends she doesn't see them, and that results in less of the aforementioned screaming, yelling, throwing, etc. I know this is not the best idea, but poor Mama is so tired of it all by mid-afternoon she can barely help it. This is going to be a long couple of years.

Since today's post was about rain, sort of, I'll leave you with a favorite quote of mine. "Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain." I only have to repeat this to myself, and instead of focusing on the bad things in life and hoping they'll be over soon (such as those fits!), it refocuses my thoughts to the good things that definitely outweigh the bad. If we are always waiting for the storms to pass, we'll wait ourselves right into old age. Dancing in the rain is so much more fun. If the storms of trouble are brewing in your life today, make sure you remember to dance in the rain.

2 comments:

I love these pics Becca, you and Mike both make great photographers (: I always love looking through pics and the ones of you and pax and of pax playing in the field are just so precious! I cant wait to see how your work changes as you progress through that class your taking. Thank you for the encouraging post, it is so strange I never understood how my mom could ignore all the things my brothers did all the time, now I realize she was so worn out she couldnt concentrate on them if she wanted. It is funny I find myself so distracted when people are talking to me after a long day with kilyk, last week my boyfriend asked me which debit card to take to the store to buy groceries with and when I didnt asnwer asked if it was a particular one and i said "uhuh" needless to say he returned 30 minutes later sans groceries with a smirk, Id apparently told him to take a closed debit card and try and buy groceries with it! Poor thing! Anyways keep your chin up, I am certain this too will pass..... my mom says in 18 years! (: